Tomorrow, Netflix will finally debut the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. The first four episodes drop all at once at 8:00 p.m. ET, and things will never be the same for Hawkins, Indiana, as our group of lovable heroes battle the forces of Vecna and the Upside Down. With the stakes higher than ever, the chances are very good that not everyone will make it out alive.
Stranger Things has killed characters before, especially those who aren't part of the main group of kids, like Sean Astin's Bob or Dacre Montgomery's Billy. But of all the characters who have fallen so far on Stranger Things, perhaps none hit as hard as Eddie Munson, the metalhead leader of the Dungeons & Dragons group The Hellfire Club. Eddie spent a large part of season 4 in the spotlight after he's accused of committing Vecna's first murder, and he and the kids spend the entire season trying to clear his name.
He never quite makes it. Rather than exonerating himself to the town at large, Eddie makes a heroic sacrifice during the season finale to buy Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington, and Robin Buckley more time to take down Vecna in the Upside Down.
Eddie's death is one of the best the show has ever done, and on the eve of season 5, it's time to revisit it. Because Eddie's demise isn't just part of the show's past; it's bound to have a big impact on season 5, and on one central character's arc in particular.
How did Eddie Munson die in Stranger Things?
In the season finale of Stranger Things 4, the group of characters still in Hawkins launch a daring plan to attack Vecna in his lair in the Upside Down. In order to do this, they have to keep the villain's psychic attention elsewhere, and they have to lure away his horde of monsters so that Nancy, Steve, and Robin can get close enough to hurt his physical body.
There are two main distractions they employ. The first is that Max makes herself known to Vecna in the Creel House. Being his final victim that he needs kill in order to open the Rifts between Hawkins and the Upside Down, Vecna can't resist psychically going after Max.
Meanwhile, Eddie Munson and Dustin Henderson handle Vecna's swarm of Demobats. Eddie gets onto the roof of his trailer and blasts Metallica's "Master of Puppets" on his guitar, creating a good enough distraction to bring all the Demobats out in force. The plan was for Eddie and Dustin to escape back through to Hawkins through a portal in the trailer just before the bats reached them, at which point the swarm would gradually turn back toward the Creel House.
But at the last minute, Eddie recognizes that Nancy, Steve, and Robin probably need more time in the Creel House. Instead of running, he cuts the escape rope back to the real world so Dustin can't follow him and takes off on a bike, luring away the Demobats. They pursue him, knocking him off the bike and injuring him.
And that's when Eddie decides to stop running, and make a fateful last stand. Using a garbage can lid as a shield and a makeshift spear, he takes on the Demobats. But there are too many, and ultimately, he falls.
After Vecna is thwarted, Dustin finds Eddie bleeding out on the street. Eddie dies in Dustin's arms, content in the knowledge that unlike earlier in the season, this time he didn't run away in the face of the monsters. He stood his ground, and bought his friends the time they needed for their plan to succeed.
It was a heroic end for one of Stranger Things' most memorable characters. And it will absolutely resonate through season 5.
Eddie's death will have a large impact on Dustin in Stranger Things 5
The final note we get for Eddie in Stranger Things 4 happens right near the end of the finale. While the town at large still believes he had a hand in the natural catastrophe unleashed by Vecna, Dustin quietly introduces himself to Eddie's uncle, who believes Eddie is still missing. Dustin tells him that Eddie died during the earthquakes, and that he was not only innocent of the crimes everyone believed he'd committed, he was a hero who sacrificed himself to try and save the town.
It's a beautiful moment of closure for Eddie in season 4, but Dustin isn't done processing this loss quite yet. While Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have confirmed that Eddie will not appear in season 5, they did reveal that his loss will still be felt keenly by Dustin.
"Eddie was always destined to die," Matt Duffer said. "He always had hat arc built for him. Once we got to that point, it was really hard. It was similar to Sean Astin where we weren't sure we wanted to do it because it meant saying goodbye to Eddie and Joe. But, it was the right thing for Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and his arc. Very much in the same way that Billy died and it affected Max, this is going to have a major impact on Dustin."
We won't have to wait long to see exactly how the shade of Eddie Munson will affect Dustin and the story at large in Stranger Things 5. The first four episodes of the season premiere tomorrow, November 26, at 8:00 p.m. ET. You can find a full release schedule for the rest of the season here.